ARMENIAN MILITARY OFFICER WOUNDED IN IRAQ

Armenpress
Nov 13 2006

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS: An Armenian military officer with
a contingent of troops serving in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq
was wounded on Friday, Armenian defense minister Serzh Sarkisian
said Saturday.

The minister said Lt. Gevorg Nalbandian was wounded while on a mission
to defuse mines. Nalbandian had his foot amputated after the incident,
Sarkisian said on a visit to the military conscription office in the
Armenian capital. The minister said the Armenian servicemen will be
transported to an American military hospital in Germany for further
treatment. The Armenian troops have been deployed to Iraq since
January 2004, and early this year Armenia rotated its troops in Iraq
for the fourth time, sending 46 servicemen, who are truck drivers,
medics and sappers.

Polish PAP news agency said one Polish and one Slovak soldier were
killed by a roadside bomb in south-central Iraq late on Friday. The
bomb exploded near the town of Al Kut in Wasit province as a
multinational convoy was returning to base. Another Polish soldier and
Gevork Nalbandian were wounded in the attack and rushed to hospital
by helicopter.

In a press release disseminated to Armenian media the Embassy of the
United States of America in Yerevan expressed its deepest concern
for the Armenian soldier who was seriously injured in Iraq, as well
as its condolences for the Polish and Salvadorian soldiers who were
killed during the incident.

"Armenia’s contingent in Iraq is carrying out the extremely important
but dangerous work of bringing peace and democracy to the country. The
injured Armenian solider is receiving the best medical care available,
and we would like to thank him and his Armenian colleagues for their
vital role in the international coalition fighting the global war on
terror," the statement read.